The Flash
by jillianjacob
Summary: Scientist Barry Allen has always been searching for some kind of purpose in his life, whether it be in his job or in his relationships. But after being struck by lightning, he manages to find a purpose along with a new life that brings hope back to the citizens of Central City. {disclaimer: not about the TV show Flash}
1. Preface

Barry Allen was by no means an extraordinary person prior to his accident. By every definition in the book, he was a completely normal, bland person before the fateful night he was struck by lightning. He was born on a rainy evening in September to a loving mother and successful father who loved him unconditionally from the very moment he was brought into the world. Unbeknownst to him, he had been born as a twin, but Nora and Henry Allen were not graced with the ability to raise their two boys together. The second boy was pronounced stillborn despite actually having been born healthy and very much alive. While this mistake upset the Allen family, it graced another. The Thawne family had been the ones to lose their child in birth, but they were lucky enough to adopt the lost Allen boy in the process. They were given the chance to raise their new son, Malcolm, as if he were their own, and they made sure that he knew that he was loved his entire life.

Until he was eleven years old, Barry had not known tragedy. He had barely experienced any kind of sadness until he reached that age. He lived a happy and normal life with his mother and father. He played with friends, participated in school sports, and excelled in school with his parents' love and support helping him through everything. They celebrated birthdays and holidays as most families do, all of those days creating memories that lived with them. Nora had even been lucky enough to see her son begin to fall in love with another girl before her life was tragically cut short. An intruder had entered their home in the middle of the knight and stabbed her through the heart. Young Barry had come downstairs to investigate the noises that stirred him from his sleep, and he woke to find his mother's near-lifeless body lying on the floor as his father fought for her life. While trying to save his wife, Henry Allen had accidentally implicated himself in the process. His fingerprints were plastered all over the handle of the knife, and his wife's blood covered his pajamas. The evidence of his attempt to save his wife's life was taken in the worst way possible; he was now seen as the reason she was dead instead of a factor in trying to save her life. No amount of defense from him or from his young son could convince the police force-and later a jury-of his innocence, and he was sent to prison for a murder that he did not commit.

The verdict went on to haunt Barry for his entire life. At the beginning, most of his fellow classmates didn't understand what had happened to him and his family, but as they all grew older, their parents' stories and old police reports began to make more and more sense. People often stared at him in the hallways or on the street, whispering about his father's nonexistent crime behind his back. One of the only things that pulled him through was his best friend and secret love, Iris West. She was a small force of knowledge and loyalty to her best friend, and it was known to almost everyone who came into contact with her that she was most definitely a force to be reckoned with. People knew not to cross her in order to get to Barry, and she was as much his silent protector as she was his family. Even before his family's tragedy, they had been the best of friends, but their relationship grew so much stronger afterwards. Her family had taken him in during the darkest time of his life, and their relationship grew each day because of it. They spent most nights awake talking to each other about their fears and their nightmares, and it was a shock to everyone around them that they chose to keep their feelings for one another a secret for as long as they were aware of them. Just about everyone outside of the two in question knew that they were madly in love with one another, and it was strange for two people to be so in love and to chose to only stay friends. They were both too afraid of losing their friendship to confess, so they thought it best to remain platonic for as long as they had to.

Up until one fateful night in Central City, Barry's life had remained utterly bland and normal. He had a routine job as a forensic scientist at the Central City Police Department, spending most of his nights buried underneath paperwork or various lab procedures that he needed to catch up. He lived in a shoebox apartment a few blocks away from the precinct and only a short block away from Iris. Every day, he would wake up, go to work, occasionally go out with Iris or another friend, go home and then sleep until his cycle repeated again. There was a very slight variation in his routine, either from lack of motivation to go out and do something or lack of the ability to. Something that would often ease his boredom from his mundane life was reading various tabloids both from Central City and other cities around the country. He would read about vigilantes or aliens from cities all over, but never thought that he would experience the chance to become one. In a way, he idolized them, but he never really allowed himself to believe that there was a chance that he could be anything remotely related to the symbols they were.

That all changed the night of the accident.

Barry had been working late one particularly stormy night, attempting to finish a blood analysis that he had been struggling with the entire day. The lightning had been striking throughout the city the entire day, but he hadn't taken much notice. Once he was focused on something such as analyzing fingerprints or blood samples, there really wasn't much that you could do to pull him away from it until the job was finished. Iris had been begging him the entire day to come out with her that night, and he promised her that he would as soon as he was finished. Sadly, he never got the chance to fulfill his promise to her. While he was passing by a shelf filled with various inks and chemicals used in his work, a stray lightning bolt had shot through the ceiling of the forensics lab, striking Barry in the heart. The bolt caused all of the glass surrounding Barry to shatter, the chemicals inside spilling onto him. His body absorbed the chemicals and the lightning, the mixture changing his molecular structure at a rapid pace. The pain of this change rendered him unconscious so that he would not suffer, and his coworkers in the department called an ambulance as soon as they found Barry lying in an unconscious heap on the lab floor. Little did any of them know what was going on inside of him as the paramedics rushed him to the nearest hospital.

He was in a medically-induced coma for less than a week. The estimate for his coma had been much longer than what he had experienced, but his body absorbed the sedatives at a much faster rate than anyone in the hospital could comprehend. Even though the coma was a fraction of the time that everyone thought it would be, Iris never left Barry's bedside. Her father often encouraged her to go home, saying that Barry wouldn't be awake when she was gone, but she refused to leave her best friend and the only man she'd ever loved. She wanted to be there when he finally woke up, and hers was the first face that he saw when all of the drugs in his system had finally worn off. They were both ecstatic to see one another, but the doctors wouldn't allow either one of them to embrace the other or celebrate much of anything until they had run a full battery of tests to see what had happened to Barry when he was struck by the lightning.

The doctors had assumed that he would never be the same after being struck by lightning. They assumed that, due to the massive amounts of electricity and chemicals that he had been exposed to, he wouldn't live to be much older than he was now, and they were shocked to find that he was completely normal and healthy. He now felt better than he had in his entire life. With this new lease on life, Barry swore to himself that he wouldn't take advantage of his life like he had been. He wouldn't sit idly by while the world happened around him. He was prepared to become something better than he had ever been, and he had no idea what he was capable of until he discovered that not only had he gained a second chance at life, he had gained extraordinary powers from the accident that would have killed any other human being.

Before he was struck, Barry was notorious for being one of the slowest people in the entire precinct. He was usually the last to turn in any kind of paperwork, and it was amazing that he was ever on time for his shifts. Now, after experiencing a one in a million accident, he could run and more thousands of times faster than he was able to before. He could react faster and even heal faster than a normal human should be able to. He now possessed the ability to do things that normal humans should be able to do. At first, he wasn't sure what to do with these powers. It took him what felt like forever just to learn how to control them so that he wouldn't accidentally reveal himself to the entire city. Then he had the idea that maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing to happen.

With these newfound abilities, Barry had the opportunity to help his home in the way that he couldn't before. He was able to do amazing things and put horrible people behind bars from his lab, but he knew deep down that that wasn't enough. There were people out there who were smart enough to avoid the police, either by clean up or by bribes. Being something greater than a forensic scientist would give him the chance to be a greater difference in his city. He would be able to bring justice to those who need it, and he would be able to right the wrongs that no even the police could fix. He had the ability to become like all of the heroes and vigilantes that he'd read about, but in a better way. He didn't want to be held up like a god, and he didn't want to be labeled as a lawless murder. He wanted to be someone that gave the people hope, someone who took care of them and made sure that they were taken care of in full.

When he first put on the mask, he swore to himself that he wouldn't let his city continue to live fear of criminals like it had been. He swore to stand up against crime and danger to keep the citizens of his home safe. With this oath, he donned a new name that helped him become the symbol of hope that Central City needed. His new name soon spread throughout the media like a wildfire, soon being associated with justice and hope. He became the fastest man alive by chance, but he became The Flash by choice.


	2. One

A pair of beautiful, brown eyes stared thoughtfully at the pictures hung on the wall. All of them were of the three children of the West family, all when they were younger and still in their adolescent years. The youngest of the three, Iris, smiled fondly at the memories that surfaced about the various days the pictures were taken. She remembered the weekend they spent in Coast City, staying at a beach house and running around in the sand with her older brother and sister. She could remember the feeling of warm sand between her toes and could practically feel the cool, salty sea water that sprayed her face every time the tide rolled in. It was a time long before now. A time where she was carefree. A time before her best friend came to live with them under the worst circumstances. A time before she felt just how harsh and unforgiving life could be. A time that was almost lost until she saw the picture. She longed to feel that way again but knew that it was highly unlikely that she would ever get the chance. Her life was filled with countless responsibilities and matters that weren't escapable.

She had long since drowned out the conversation droning on in the other room. Her father and mother were talking to their oldest daughter, Charlotte, and their adoptive son as they all waited for their biological son to arrive with his family. The West family had a standing tradition ever since all of their children settled down: a weekly, Sunday night dinner at home so that no one would feel lost and disconnected from the family. Despite not being a blood relative to the family, Barry had been included into this tradition as soon as it was founded when he and Iris left for college. Ira and Nadine viewed him as one of their own, and they wanted to make sure that he knew that they would be the parents that he never had the chance to have this late in life. He was grateful for their efforts, and he often said that the West household was one of the only places that he felt like he was accepted for everything that he was. The only other place that he'd felt like that was at his own childhood home, but going back there was as impossible as it was painful.

Sadly, only one of the nine people in the West family knew of his secret double-life, that person happening to be the head of the household, Ira West. Barry confided in him a number of days after discovering his powers, feeling that his adoptive father was the only one who could help him become a new version of hero. He had helped Barry obtain a suit that could withstand his intensive amount of running without wearing down like normal clothing would. He'd always been supportive of Barry-seeing as how they both held positions relating to science-and he was honored to be one of the only people who knew the man behind The Flash's mask. With this responsibility, he did whatever he could to aid his adoptive son, even going as far to obtain a kind of technology that was able to compress Barry's suit into a ring that had his emblem proudly mounted on the band. Barry thought that the ring was ostentatious when Ira first gave it to him, but he'd come to hold it close to his heart. Whenever he was questioned about the noticeable ring, he always claimed that he was nothing more than a fanatic towards the city's masked hero, and no one seemed to want to question him further than that. Nearly everyone who lived in Central City was grateful for the hero, and most weren't surprised at other people being supportive of him.

Barry's eyes shifted away from the four people he was standing with, looking past the young girl who was coloring on the couch to see Iris standing apart from everyone. His heart swelled at the sight of her thoughtful expression, always thinking that she looked her most beautiful when she was deep in thought. Lately, he found that it had been getting harder and harder to keep his feelings from her. Protecting her from knowing that he was The Flash was easy. He kept that secret from her to make sure that no one would harm her. Keeping the secret that he loved her was something different. Before, he always told himself that he didn't have the courage or that it wasn't the right time to tell her, but those excuses weren't working like they used to. He was more confident than he had ever been in his life, and he was beginning to think that now may have been the most opportune time to tell her that he was tired of being friends with her. It wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do now that he was a superhero, but he thought that there was a possibility that he could have it all without losing anything in the process.

Barry's feet carried him across the living room, playfully ruffling Inez's hair as he passed the young girl. He stood next to Iris, capturing her attention and earning a small greeting as she looked at the pictures yet again. "Longing for a time when you weren't weighed down by work?" He joked lightly, smiling down at her.

Iris chuckled lightly with a small nod. "Longing for a time when things were better." She replied.

He furrowed his brow in confusion, looking down at her with his head tilted to the side. "What do you mean?"

She looked up at him. "Just when we didn't have to constantly look over our shoulder to make sure that we're not being stalked by a crime boss or a whacked out meta human who can rip you apart with his bare hands."

He chuckled, trying to hide some of his ego that was peeking through. "Isn't that what The Flash is for?"

She smiled softly. "Well, it's not like he can be everywhere at once, Barry."

"I dunno. With how fast he can run, I think it's highly possible."

She laughed lightly, hearing the sound of the front door opening. It was followed by her brother, Rudy, greeting the entire family as Wally came running into the house. Iris laughed as he ran towards her, embracing her with enough force to almost knock her over. "It's nice to see you too, kid." She greeted, hugging him back as he groaned.

"Do you really have to keep calling me that?" He questioned, pulling away. "I'm fourteen, you know."

"Wally, you're always going to be a kid to me." She beamed down at him, even going so far as to pinch his cheek.

He groaned louder, making his father laugh as he approached the small trio. Iris welcomed her brother with open arms. "Glad to see you're still managing to find ways to torture my son." He laughed.

"Well, I'm not fortunate enough to torture any children of my own." She replied somewhat sadly.

"It's not like you don't have an entire list of suitors, Iris. Being Central City's most famous reporter builds up quite a fan base after a while. I'm sure that there are hundred of men in the city who would be more than willing to have some kids with you."

She sighed with a small chuckle. "Yeah, well Barry's the only man I like having in my life." She stated, smiling up at the man standing just behind her.

"What about me, Iris?" The teenager asked with a small smirk.

His aunt smiled at him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and pulling him closer to her. "You're not a man, Wally. You're still a kid to me, and you always will be."

"Only to you." He groaned, making Iris laugh.

She had always had a unique relationship with her brother's son. Due to his father's irrational need for his family to constantly show affection towards him, Wally never felt close to Rudy. He never understood how his father could be like that, and he never felt like he was really cared for by the man. Charlotte had never been the overly-affectionate type towards him, either. If anything, she always found ways to talk down to Wally because of his age or his somewhat mediocre marks in school. In a way, Wally actually resented his aunt for treating him as if he were beneath her just because he wasn't among the smartest people in the room. Iris was the most different out of the three. Instead of actually treating him like he was a child, she showed him as much respect as she showed her. They were more than family, but close friends. Whenever one of them had a problem with anything, they would always contact the other to talk things through. Their relationship was playful and profound, one that they both valued more than most other things in their lives.

Now that the entire family was present in the house, Ira called them all to the dinner table to eat. They were all accustomed to dining outdoors this time of year, but due to the raging thunderstorm outside, they were forced to stay inside. They all crammed themselves into the small dining room, all of them struggling to keep their plates from being on top of one another. None of them seemed to worry about the lack of space, though. Aside from the small amounts of tension between a few select members of the family (Charlotte and Wally, and Ira and Rudy namely), they were all happy to be together again. Even though some of them had their difficulties being around one another, the weekly family dinners were something that they all cherished deeply. It was a small part of everyone's week where they were completely carefree and happy to be around people just like them. It was the only time some didn't worry about money or their work. It was a time for Iris where she didn't have to worry about the people in this city either asking for her autograph or her head. It was a time for Ira to get away from his office and be with the ones he loved the most. It was a time for Wally to stop hiding part of who he was, the part that made him a meta that some people would chose to fear. It was a time for Barry to not have to worry about his double life, to relax and forget about all of the danger and pain that lurked in his past and his present.

The meal itself was filled with laughter and stories about the week that had just passed. Nadine shared various tales about criminals she and her partner had apprehended that week, Barry corroborating some of the stories that he had actively been part of, either as The Flash or as the forensic scientist that analyzed all of the evidence that traveled through the department. Ira talked shortly about some of his students but quickly shifted the conversation away from himself as he sensed his son's obvious annoyance. When the subject of Wally came up, he failed at hiding the blush that rose to his cheeks at the mention of a girl that he had become fond of at school. Iris showed him support in his romantic ventures, trying to keep the subject about the lack of her's off of the table. Her mother and father attempted to question her about her lack of a significant other, but both Barry and Wally came to her defense in saying that she really didn't need any other men in her life other than the two of them. Everyone accepted the defense without opposition, all of them seeing how much the three cared for each other and not wanting to question it.

After everyone was finished eating, the West family separated. Usually, some members of the family would stay behind to continue chatting, but everyone had places to be early in the morning, so they couldn't afford to stay. Iris and Barry were the last to leave, their goodbyes to Wally and the parents taking the longest. Iris promised her young nephew that she would take him out towards the end of the week so that they could talk, and the young boy was elated by the promise. Ira softly questioned Barry about how his suit was holding up, and he promised his adoptive father that they would talk at another time so that any questions or concerns could be aired out thoroughly. Iris and Barry left together, seeing as how she drove him nearly everywhere. He'd grown to hate even the idea of traveling via automobile due to how slow they were in comparison to his speed, but something about the time he got to spend with Iris during these car rides helped him through it.

Iris was unusually quiet as she drove the both of them back to the city. Her knuckles were nearly white as she drove through the downpour, her grip nearly bending the stiff material of the steering wheel. Barry furrowed his brow at the silent display, not knowing the storm of anxiety that was brewing inside her head. "What's wrong?" He inquired softly, sounding almost afraid to break the comfortable silence that was settled between them.

Iris nodded shortly, taking a deep breath and shifting in her seat slightly. "Yeah, yeah I just don't like thunderstorms." She shared, her voice shaking slightly.

He chuckled, earning an eyebrow raise from her. "Iris, you've never been afraid of thunderstorms."

She swallowed hard, masking her fear with a small smile. "That changed after your accident." She replied, changing his shock to confusion. "I know that it's stupid, but I feel like, everytime I hear thunder or see lightning, I… I get these horribly vivid flashbacks of the night that I almost lost you."

He was silent for a moment, processing her words as his heart broke in his chest. He reached his hand across the console separating them, gently placing his hand on her thigh. She yielded at a stop sign, looking at him in the dim light provided by the streetlamp to their right. "You are never going to lose me, Iris." He assured her genuinely. "Nothing's going to take me away from you."

"You can't promise something like that, Barry." She replied. "That's too tempting for Death and Fate."

He smiled at her, his eyes shining brightly in the low lighting. "Death doesn't scare me, Iris."

She jumped at a sudden flash of lightning, causing Barry to squeeze her thigh in reassurance. She mouthed a small thank you to her best friend before beginning the drive home again. Barry did his best to keep Iris' mind off of the pouring rain and the resounding thunder shaking the car. He talked about various things that he'd done lately in his lab or about a song that was playing on the radio. It was easy to see that Iris was thankful of his attempt to help ease her palpable anxiety, but neither one of them could stop the inevitable, especially when she pulled up in front of his apartment building that was only a few blocks away from her own. They were both silent as they stared at the rain cascading down the windshield.

Barry chuckled softly, bringing Iris' attention away from the illuminated water to him. "I really don't want to go home." He stated his thoughts.

"Maybe you should come home with me, then." Iris suggested. "We both know it's better for my sanity to have someone with me during this storm, and it could be kind of like old times at the house."

"Don't you have to be at work early in the morning, though?"

She smiled at him, starting the engine again. "That's what concealer is for, my dear boy."

Barry laughed, happy that he wasn't going to have to spend yet another night alone in his apartment. He found that the walls were deafeningly silent on nights like these. His usually noisy neighbors found themselves otherwise occupied during rain or thunderstorms. He had no idea what they did that made them so much quiet than normal, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer to his questions. Normally, he wouldn't have to worry about his apartment being silence due to how he spent his evenings, but that wasn't usually the case on rainy nights. Metas and criminals alike often elected to stay indoors when the weather was less than desirable, and while it gave Barry a chance to relax and catch up on anything that he had fallen behind on, it often caused him to reach a level of boredom and loneliness when he was trapped inside his apartment walls.

The couple ran through the rain into the building, both of their laughs echoing off of the chipping walls. Iris routinely led Barry up to her apartment on the fourth floor, audibly complaining about the hike up the flights of stairs. He laughed at her complaints, playfully teasing her about her lack of fitness compared to his. She shoved him as hard as she could, only earning a small stumble back from him as they reached her apartment door. She unlocked the door and lead her best friend inside the apartment that was like a second home to him. She made sure that the door was locked and the deadbolt was turned before following him further into her home, both of them collapsing onto the couch with content sighs echoing throughout the spacious floor. They were only afforded a small amount of time with the TV and power working before the storm shut everything down. To anyone else, this would have ruined a night in, but to the couple who had been together their entire lives, it was an opportunity to relive their teenage nights.

After spending some time searching the kitchen for the right kinds of snack foods, Iris and Barry found themselves on the tiled floor, eating s'mores they'd cooked on her gas stove and reminiscing about the time they'd spent together in high school. Iris chuckled softly at the thought of her brief time on the cheerleading squad, her eyes falling downwards at the camping snack in her hands. Barry smiled softly at her, silently and privately marveling at the way she practically glowed in the light cascading in from the open windows behind him. He always found it hard to believe that someone could be so beautiful both externally and inside as well. She was the one woman in his life that was near perfection, and he knew that he was lucky to be so close to someone like her. She was smart and funny, ambitious and adventurous; she was everything that he could have wished for and more, and it was nights like these that he wished more than anything that they were something more than friends.

"What do you think about The Flash?" Iris asked abruptly, nearing causing Barry to choke on his s'more.

He coughed violently for a moment before clearing his throat and looking at Iris. "T-the Flash?"

She nodded with a chuckle. "Yeah. I know just about everyone's stance on him except yours."

"Everyone's?" She nodded again. "I find that hard to believe."

She laughed softly, leaning against the cabinet behind her. "Well, everyone down at the station is in love with him because the more coverage we get of him, the higher ratings we have. Mom is pretty indifferent towards him considering she can't condone vigilantism despite liking the fact that he makes her job a little easier. Dad is fascinated by a man that can run faster than the speed of light," Barry chuckled almost inaudibly at the mention of one of his closest allies at the moment. "Charlotte and Edgar don't really care. Inez is too young to understand what he stands for. Rudy doesn't like the idea of a man doing the police's work. Mary doesn't care all that much because he's based here instead of Keystone, and Wally adores him."

Barry fought to suppress a smile at the mention of Wally. "Adores?"

Iris nodded, taking a bite out of the snack in her hands before continuing. "It's true. He's been infatuated with knowing who the only other speedster around here is."

It was far from a secret that Wally West was a speedster. Everyone in the West family knew of his abilities because he wasn't able to control himself most of the time. Unlike Barry, he didn't have the self-control training to properly hone his abilities so that he could hide his gift from the world. Wally was able to keep the secret within the family, but everyone was worried about what would happen as he grew older and more careless about life. "I didn't think that Wally was a fan of superheroes." Barry stated.

She shrugged slightly. "He's into a lot of things. He admires all of the metas and aliens all over the country, you know."

"Who doesn't? They're all fighting to make the world a better and safer place for everyone."

"I know." She nodded in agreement, a small smile on his face. "Wally and I are in agreement that it's nice to have someone like The Flash watching over us."

Barry smirked at her. "Do you have a crush on The Flash, Iris?"

She laughed, kicking his knee lightly. "You really think that I would have a crush on someone that I've never met before?"

"You haven't met him yet?" He played dumb as he finished off the snack in his hand.

She shook her head. "Nope. I guess that running around with a camera is a little too high-profile for his taste."

"I don't think that he would exclude you if you were in any real trouble."

"He doesn't consider locking your keys in your car real trouble?" He laughed, making her smile before she spoke again. "I'm kind of glad that I haven't met him, to be honest. I think that it would make the whole thing that much more real."

"What do you mean?" He asked, leaning his head against the cabinet to his left as he watched her shift so that she was facing him.

"One of the reasons that he's such a great hero is because he's there one second and then gone the next." She explained. "He's more like a phantom than he is a person, and that gives him the chance to be something that none of the other superheroes around the country can be."

"What's that?"

"Completely invisible." He arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "His speed not only gives him the ability to help people, but he's able to hide in plain sight. He moves so fast that no one is able to get a good look at him. Yeah, he wears a mask, but he doesn't need to."

"Maybe it's all part of the allure of being a superhero." He proposed.

She smiled at him. "Wonder Woman doesn't wear a mask. Neither does Superman."

"But Batman does." He retorted. "So does the Green Arrow and the Green Lantern."

She chuckled lightly, nodding in agreement. "Maybe he does it to give more hope to everyone he rescues."

"How's that?" He asked, genuinely wanting to know how she viewed his other half.

"Hiding behind a mask kind of gives everyone a chance to envision themself as him." She shared. "Not knowing his real identity creates the mystery that it could literally be anyone, and I think that people prefer that to knowing who puts on the suit."

Barry chuckled, smiling at the love of his life. "You know, you keep talking like that, you're going to win a Pulitzer one day."

She beamed at him. "Well, that is the plan."


	3. Two

The sound of keyboard keys clacking echoed throughout the entire office floor, just about everyone who was sitting at a computer desk making the almost melodious noise. Heads were bowed as fingers flew across the dark objects, the words quickly appearing on dozens of different computer screens. Those who weren't stationed at their desk writing up their next report were either lounging around the water cooler and chatting with one another about dozens of different topics or running back and forth from the office floor to the newsroom to prepare for the evening news broadcast. Writers were rushing through their editing process to make sure that the evening anchors weren't accidentally reading typos during their live broadcast, making not only themselves look foolish but the entire station as well. Cameramen and sound engineers were running through their usual tests to make sure that every word read was clear and audible, and various reporters and the two evening news anchors were primping themselves for the night ahead.

Iris had spent her entire day-her entire week at work reading through various articles from various cities about the heroes around the country. Ever since Central City had been graced with The Flash's heroism, Picture News had been covering each and every one of his acts. Iris was the face of his support, and her superiors often asked her to make sure to include small details about some of the heroes that had been seen fighting with The Flash from time to time. She didn't hate the idea, honestly. She was glad that she was given the chance to put the masked hero in a good light instead of cursing him like most other media outlets wanted to when he first came about. Everyone was terrified that he could end up as lawless and dangerous as the Batman of Gotham or as destructive as the alien of Metropolis. Iris knew better, though. She could see that he wanted nothing more than to make sure that everyone in the city was safe in an otherwise dangerous world.

A close friend of Iris' and one of her best friends, Danielle Jackson, approached her small cubicle, resting her chin on the thin walls as she beamed down at her friend. "You have a visitor, Iris." She sang happily, making Iris chuckle softly as she looked up at her.

"You can just start sending Barry back here, you know." She shared, sitting back in her seat. "Making him wait around in the lobby seems pointless at this point, especially if he comes baring food."

Her friend shook her head with a smile. "For once, it's not your soulmate." Iris rolled her eyes, failing to suppress a smile. "Your visitor happens to be the assistant to one Lex Luthor."

Iris furrowed her brow as she slowly rose from her seat. "Dani, how can a convicted criminal still have an assistant? You can't schedule board meetings or order a latte from a maximum security prison."

She shrugged. "Dunno. I didn't really get that far in the process of meeting him. But he's waiting for you in the lobby for whenever you're ready."

Iris smiled softly at her best friend, patting her shoulder before venturing from her small space. She wound her way through the office floor towards the exit to the floor's lobby. It wasn't a secret to anyone that Lex Luthor was safely behind prison walls, so it was confusing to say the least that he would have an assistant looking to reach out to Iris West. Considering the prison he was currently being kept in, he shouldn't have even had access to an email account, much less someone who swayed to his every beck and call. Despite her confusion, she entered the lobby to see a young man in a sharp suit standing next to the window, his dark eyes staring out at the city that lay beyond the building. His hands were clasped behind his back, and there was a small, somewhat disconcerting smile on his face as he bounced lightly on his heels. Iris could tell that he was overly happy about something, and she wasn't that sure if she wanted to know what it was. When she approached him, she cleared her throat softly to bring his attention away from the window to her, wanting to get this meeting over with as soon as possible. As he looked away from the city and at her, an even wider smile crossing his face.

"Ms. West." He greeted simply, shaking her hand with a firm grip. "It's good to finally meet the face of Central City."

Iris chuckled, sliding her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "I wasn't aware that people around the country saw me that way."

"Well, Picture News has a way of broadcasting you all over." Iris nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "You're most likely wondering why I'm here."

"I'm actually wondering how Lex Luthor still has assistants." She corrected. "But knowing why he's seeking me out would be nice too."

The man smiled slightly. "Mr. Luthor's company is still up and running despite his incarceration, but, what with his release in full effect, he's going to be in need of assistants to help him transition back into the world beyond the walls of Belle Reve."

Iris' heart skipped a beat in her chest at the mention of this new information. "I-I'm sorry. He's being released?"

The man nodded happily. "Yes, in a little over a month he will begin his parole and resume life as a freeman."

"He nearly leveled Metropolis." Iris stated in a shocked tone, not managing to waver the man's lighthearted mood. "He took thousands of lives, including one from another planet, when he created that monster. Why is he being released?"

"He's been a very respectful prisoner during his duration in Belle Reve." The man replied. "The judicial system is merely fulfilling their obligation to reward his model behavior."

"He's being let out on good behavior?"

He nodded, a grin crossing his face. "And he wants you to be the one to interview him as soon as he is released."

Iris blinked a few times before taking a small step back. "He wants me to interview him?" The man nodded again. "Me? The reporter who's famous for supporting superheroes who put men like him away? The one who openly said that locking him up for the rest of his life wasn't a severe enough punishment, that the only thing suitable for him would be to lock him away on an island in the middle of the Pacific?"

"He thinks that it will be a good way to build a new reputation with the country, to sit face-to-face with someone who-"

"Is going to tear him a new one the moment his butt hits the cushion?" She questioned, finally seeing the man's mood falter. "Just trying to be honest."

He let out a small breath before forcing a smile back. "Take a few days to consider the offer, Ms. West. I think that it would be a very wise career move for yourself and for Picture News."

Iris hummed softly as the man walked away. As soon as he was out of her sight, she took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair at the mere thought of sitting across from a man who had come to haunt her nightmares. Even though she'd never met Lex Luthor before, she'd always had somewhat of a silent hatred for how he would adamantly pursue things that weren't safe for anyone other than himself. She didn't have the ability to spend much time dwelling on the thought before Barry walked up to her with a bag in hand. She smiled up at her best friend before noticing the look of complete confusion on his face. She wasn't used to him being confused. Out of the two of them, he was the one who was able to think through anything before any real confusion set it. Iris was always the one who had to have things explained to her, most of the time having it come from the man standing beside her.

"Who was that?" Barry asked curiously.

Iris exhaled heavily, crossing her arms as she looked towards the elevators. "That was an assistant to Lex Luthor." She replied, looking up to see shock written all over his face. "I know."

"What was Lex Luthor's assistant doing here?"

"Apparently, he wants me to interview him. Luthor not the assistant." She chuckled, not earning the same response from Barry. He looked upset and almost nervous, causing her to furrow her brow in confusion. "Why do you look like you're about to have someone take off your head?"

He swallowed hard before shaking his head and forcing a smile. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

She chuckled lightly, her eyes falling to the bag in his hands before a smile crossed her face. "You have food."

He laughed lightly, remembering why he made the trip to the Picture News building in the first place as he handed her the bag. "I figured that you'd be too wrapped up in researching God only knows what to remember to eat."

"Always the hero, Barry Allen." She laughed, taking the bag gratefully. "Are you going to eat with me, or do you have to get back to your lab?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I wish I could stay, but the department's been overrun with evidence and criminals lately, and Singh seems to think that I need to make up for lost time."

"If only The Flash knew how forensics worked." She joked. "He would be able to help you blitz through all of your work in seconds instead of hours."

Barry chuckled nervously as he nodded. "If only."

"Well, maybe you can come over later if you can manage to pull yourself away from the stimulating life of fingerprints and blood drops," He chuckled lightly, making her smile, "I'm feeling that Chinese place down on 5th, and I'm going to need someone to finish off what I can't."

He smiled at her as he slowly began walking backwards towards the exit. "I promise you that I will do my best to join you and eat your leftovers."

She smiled fondly at his words despite being upset that he was leaving. "Just like old times."

"Are they considered old times if it happened last week?" She laughed at his joke, and he smiled at her. "I'll see you later, Iris."

"Bye, Barry." She sang, going her separate way as well.

As soon as she was out of his line of sight, Barry took off through the city towards Ira's office at S.T.A.R. Labs. Due to his brilliance in the field of physics, he had come to hold a very high and distinguished position at the country's leading facility in science. He had been working there for years before Barry's accident, so naturally, that's where Barry would go whenever he was having issues with his powers. Only a small handful of people at the facility knew of his secret identity, the rest only knowing that they were aiding the masked hero that had been running around the city for months now. Cisco Ramon, a close partner and friend to Ira, was one of the few who knew of Barry's true identity, and he was also one of Barry's greatest allies. He was one of the sharpest minds in the country, and he had invented various devices that had aided Barry in more ways than one. The trio of scientists were a force to be reckoned with, and they often times felt invincible due to how cohesive they were as a team. They still had yet to face a foe that showed a glimpse of ability to defeat them as of yet, and it was slowly beginning to go to their heads.

When Barry arrived in Ira's office mere seconds after leaving the Central City Picture News building, he found his adoptive father sitting at his desk, writing formulas concerning Barry's speed. Ira smiled up at his son, rising from his chair to greet him with a warm embrace as he usually did. Ira always saw Barry as one of his own children, even before he took him in after his mother's murder. Due to how close he and Iris were when they were younger, he saw a lot of Barry around his home. Secretly, he'd always hoped that one day Barry and Iris would finally admit their feelings to one another, but he knew better than to push either one of them towards that kind of life. He wanted to see both of them find love on their own. He just hoped that they would find that love with each other instead of with other people who wouldn't be able to return their love with the same magnitude and severity as they would.

"Why brings you by so early, Barry?" Ira questioned, pulling away from their embrace. "You usually don't start your nights of fighting crime until you've at least clocked out of work."

Barry nodded, deeply inhaling before explaining. "I just came back from Picture News."

Ira smiled at the thought of his daughter as he walked back to the other side of his desk. "To see Iris?" Barry nodded again. "Is there ever any time that you two aren't spending together?"

"When we're working." He chuckled lightly. "I was going to give her some food since she was most likely too busy working to remember to eat, and when I got there, I found that she had a visitor."

Ira arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "And who would that have been?"

"An assistant to Lex Luthor." Both of Ira's eyebrows arched in shock, earning a nod from Barry. "He came bearing the news that Luthor wants Iris to interview him when he's released from prison."

"Why is he being released?"

Barry shrugged. "I'm not sure, I didn't really ask that many questions. I was too wrapped up in the idea of a convicted psychopath sitting across from my best friend."

"It's not like there's much we can do about it, Barry. Iris is a strong, determined girl. Even if it means interviewing the head of the largest terrorist group in the world, she'll do it in order to get respect for what she does. You and I both know that people at Picture News underestimate her because she's only a reporter."

"But that doesn't mean that she should be within a five-foot radius of someone as dangerous as Lex Luthor."

Ira shrugged helplessly before sitting down. "I dislike the idea as much as you do, Barry, but there's no point in trying to change her mind about this. Iris-God help us-is as stubborn and strong-willed as her mother."

"A trait that is usually endearing until it ends up getting someone in a bad situation." He concluded, earning a nod from Ira.

"I'm aware, but there's nothing that I will be able to do to convince her. If anyone, you're the one who'll be able to get through."

Barry sighed heavily, running his hands through his hair in frustration. A second ticked by before Cisco walked into the room with a large smile on his face and a small device in his hands. "You guys will not believe what I just came up with." He stated happily, not noticing the tension in the room.

The speedster smirked at his friend. "You invented something? I figured that you'd be too busy drooling over the girl that works downstairs."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "Forgive me for falling for the triple threat, okay?"

"Triple threat?" Ira questioned, not understanding what he meant.

"Smart, attractive, and completely unavailable." Cisco listed on his fingers.

Ira's brow furrowed, and Barry chuckled lightly before explaining further. "Her name's Caitlin Snow. She's about to leave on a five-year expedition to an underfunded subsidiary of S.T.A.R. Labs that's based in the Arctic Circle."

"She's going with Dr. Lincoln." Cisco added.

Ira nodded in understanding. "To aide in her work with the self-sustaining Thermodynamic Ultraconductor Engine."

"What's it for?" Barry asked curiously, not knowing much about the project other than who was involved and where it was going to be.

"Louise has hypothesized that with the S.T.U.-"

"That's what she's calling it." Cisco shared.

"She can create perpetual motion from the second law of thermodynamics."

"Hence the 't' in S.T.U."

Barry chuckled lightly. "That's a nice theory. Give her my well-wishes next time you see her." He turned to Cisco with a small smile. "What did you come up with, Cisco?"

"A much easier way to track you when you're out running around the city." He stated happily, holding up the small, circular device in between his index finger and thumb. "Continuously hacking into traffic cameras was getting old, so I made this. It's a few steps up from nano-tech, but it's powerful enough for us to be able to find you if you're all the way in China."

Barry smiled at the small piece of technology in Cisco's hand, an idea immediately popping into his head. "Can you fit it in jewelry?"

"Uh, yeah. I think I could fit it in your ring if I tried hard enough."

He shook his head. "Not my ring. A different one, for someone else."

"Iris." Ira stated, happy that Barry was always looking out for his youngest daughter.

He nodded in agreement, and Cisco shifted on his feet. "Okay, when am I going to get to meet the famous Iris?" He inquired. "You guys talk about her all the time, and I feel like I'm left out of the loop because I don't know who this girl is."

Barry chuckled, patting his shoulder. "Watch the evening news, Cisco."

"I would if I had the time." He replied, holding the tracker up. "I'll get to work on hiding it in some kind of jewelry that's inconspicuous."

"Try putting a beacon in it as well." Ira suggested. "If I know my daughter, she'll feel better if she thinks that she's not constantly being tracked."

"So I take it she's not a fan of the NSA." Barry chuckled at his remark. "Formally noted."

He said goodbye to his fellow scientists before leaving the office. Barry sighed heavily, looking down at his watch. "I've got to get back to the station." He stated

"Are you going to be spending your night here or do you have plans?" Ira questioned, fighting a smirk from reaching his lips.

Barry smiled with a small nod before speeding out of the office and back towards his lab, sending loose papers on Ira's desk flying into the air.


	4. Three

The dark street was barely illuminated by the dying streetlamps that stood high above anyone's head, the soft orange light barely being enough to guide anyone down the damp sidewalks. Iris' footsteps echoed throughout the relatively empty street, the few people populating the sidewalk around her aiding in the soft noises that bounced off of the occupied apartment buildings and businesses. Her jacket was pulled tightly across her chest, the cool night air attempting to seep through the material. She'd been walking for countless blocks from her apartment to the restaurant that she'd been thinking of all day. She thought that it would be easier to walk the distance instead of drive and end up paying a fortune in parking. She was well off, but there were very few people living in Central City that were that well off. In any case, though, she prefered to walk if she had the choice. It gave her a chance to clear her head of anything that was weighing her down, and tonight's walk helped her come to terms with the idea of having to interview the notorious Lex Luthor in her future.

She wasn't overly fond of the idea. After she had finished her lunch, she sat in her cubicle coming up with ways that she would be able to get out of the interview, none of the plans panning out like she had hoped. While she thought, she realized that this may have been a blessing in disguise. She had the opportunity to talk to him on a level that no one else did. She was going to be able to find out about what had happened in Metropolis in its entirety. There were things that the media outlets in the vast city were keeping from the rest of the country, not to mention how little the government and military were sharing with anyone anywhere. Most everyone was in the dark about what exactly had been able to blow up over half of the city and what had been able to nearly kill the almost-indestructible alien that was like their guardian angel. She would be able to fill in any gaps that were in the information that was given. She would be able to find out what exactly caused Luthor to lose his mind enough to want to decimate his home and the homes of so many other innocent people. Even though it was more dangerous than she would have liked it to be, she knew that the only way to get information was from the man himself, no matter how deranged and psychotic that man happened to be.

As she was walking past a particularly deserted ally, a large gust of wind cut in front of her, causing her footsteps to cease. Normally, something like that wouldn't have stopped her, but she knew that that wasn't a natural kind of wind. Her head turned in the direction of where the gust of wind was headed, seeing the silhouette of a man standing in front of the only light source in that direction. Her heart fluttered at the sight, knowing that that wasn't some random stranger standing before her. Her feet slowly started towards the man, hesitance clear in her demeanor despite her desire to approach the man. While it was a shock for her to be standing in the presence of the masked man that had been crusading for her home for so long, she really had no idea what he was like as a person. For all she knew, he could be here to openly chastise her for her work at Picture News. It seemed unlikely, though, seeing as how she was one of the few people who were welcoming of his help instead of branding it acts of unnecessary violence. She didn't really know what this man was capable of-not completely anyway-but that didn't stop her from confronting him.

"You're him." Iris stated with a small smile, not being able to make out the one on Barry's face. "You're the man that's been running around saving everyone. You're The Flash."

"And you're Iris West." He replied cooly, finding himself to be much more confident when he was hiding behind his mask. But regardless of wearing the mask, he altered his voice to assure that Iris wouldn't be able to recognize him.

Iris chuckled, still slowly making her way towards him. "I didn't think that superheroes had time to watch the news."

"We don't, but I make time for people who support me rather than try to turn my acts into something that they're not."

Iris nodded slightly, stopping just a few feet away from the masked man in fear of frightening him away if she were to get too close. This may have been the only chance she got to speak to him, and the last thing she wanted to do was scare him off by getting too close to him. "Shouldn't you be out rescuing cats from trees or stopping buildings from burning down?" She inquired curiously. "There's an entire city out there that's probably in desperate need of your help."

"I'm much more worried about you at the moment." He answered, his light hearted exterior changing to a much more serious one. "Word has traveled that Lex Luthor is going to be released from his cage at Belle Reve prison and that he's chosen you to be the first of many reporters to interview him."

"Well, I don't think that Lois Lane would be comfortable talking to a man that threw her off of a building." She retorted, attempting to mask the sick feeling in her stomach at the thought of her favorite reporter being put through something that horrendous.

"This isn't something that we should be joking about, Ms. West. Lex Luthor is a very dangerous man, and he will do whatever he sees fit in order to obtain what he wants, including harming you to get to whomever he has his eye on."

She nodded in agreement. "I know, but there really isn't anything that I can do about it at this point. He had one of his assistants email my boss, and even though it could ultimately have me thrown off a building, he told me that if I back out of the interview then I lose my job. But that's all assuming that I wanted to back out."

"You want to interview him?" Barry questioned, feeling shocked and terrified at the reality that his best friend was so willing to go through something like this.

"Want isn't exactly the word I would use." She contradicted, taking another hesitant step closer only to earn one back from her masked friend. She swallowed hard in fear that he would leave but was immediately relieved when he didn't run away before she got a chance to explain herself. "An interview like this would be able to bring to light everything that he's done and more. The people of Metropolis have been lying in the wake of what he's done, from the destruction of over half of the city, but also the thought-to-be death of Superman. They've been suffering because of what he's done, and sending him to prison isn't going to rectify all of the pain and destruction that he's caused. Those people need answers, and this interview could give them what they're searching for. It could give them closure and the chance to finally be given some piece of the justice that they deserve."

"This is not worth the risk of your safety. I believe that those people deserve justice as much as you do, Ms. West, but your life shouldn't be put on the line to obtain it."

She chuckled lightly. "Please call me Iris." He nodded once before she continued. "My safety is no longer existent if he was able to seek me out in my own office. Not many people in a city that far away know who I am, so there could be a lot more that he has on me other than the fact that I'm a reporter at Picture News. For all we know, he's aware of where I live, who my family is, who my friends are, and being the psycho that he is, I'm pretty sure that he's had people most likely monitoring where I like to eat."

"There isn't a way that I can talk you out of this, is there?"

Iris shook her head with a small smile. "There really isn't."

"Then I guess I'm going to have to make sure that you're safe." She arched an eyebrow in confusion as he pulled out a small, gold ring. A lightning bolt much like the one on his chest was mounted on a thinner band than his ring, but no matter how small the emblem or the band was, it was large enough to house the tracker that Cisco had created earlier that day. "This ring has a tracking beacon that will activate whenever you push down on the bolt. No matter where you are in the world, I will be able to find you."

Iris took the ring, examining it silently for a moment. "Nice product placement." She joked, causing Barry to laugh lightly. "Why so adamant about making sure that I'm safe? What's so special about me?"

"This city needs a hero that doesn't have to hide behind a mask." He stated, causing her eyes to move towards his instead of at the ring in her hands. "You have the ability to give people hope where I can't: in the light. I'm forced to hide in the shadows because of what I do, but you don't, Iris. You can be the symbol that I can never be, one of hope."

She let out a small chuckle, the words striking her in a different way from any other part of their conversation. "You sound a lot like my best friend."

Barry smiled, biting it back as much as he could and failing for the most part. "She must be very smart."

Iris shook her head. "No, it's a man. His name's Barry. He works with the police as a forensic scientist. We've been best friends ever since we were in kindergarten, and ever since I started reporting at Picture News, he's always talking about how I'm kind of like the voice of the people. You sounded a lot like him just then."

"Well, I guess this Barry and I share a lot of the same opinions." He said, silently laughing to himself that the irony that was lost on her. "As for the ring: if you ever feel like you're in any kind of danger-"

"Push on the bolt." Iris finished, seeing him smile. "You know, I don't really need your help in staying safe. My mom's a cop, so I grew up knowing how to defend myself."

"Believe me, Iris. Knowing that you're safe is more for me and my sanity than it is for you."

Iris smiled softly at his statement, finding it strangely endearing that a man whom she'd never met before now could feel that way about her. As quickly as the speedster came, he was gone again, leaving Iris to stare at the empty space where he just was. She chuckled to herself, her heart fluttering at the thought of someone so brave and courageous worrying about her well-being. Before she left the alley to continue on her route, she slipped the ring onto her right index finger, finding that it fit like a glove. She didn't read much into the fact that it fit so well, her mind becoming occupied with the thought of food as she neared the restaurant that she had been moving towards. A warm rush of air welcomed her when she pushed the door open, the small bell chiming as she scanned the area for a place to sit. When she spotted Barry sitting towards the back of the restaurant, a smile crossed her face. Lately, she wasn't accustomed to Barry keeping his promises of dinner arrangements, and it was a welcome change to see him here for once.

"Someone better call Director Singh." She joked as she approached the table, sitting down across from the laughing man. "I didn't think you were allowed to leave your lab with how much he's been working you lately, much less go out to dinner."

Barry nodded, scratching the back of his head as he looked at her. "I know that I've been flaky lately, but I promise that I'm going to at least try to get out of the lab more. I'm going to try to start fulfilling my promises."

"Well, that's a start." Iris said, both of them laughing in response. "I really have missed hanging out with you all the time, Barry. Things just haven't been the same since you were struck. I haven't been able to see you as much since."

He nodded in agreement. "I know, and I apologize for that. Things at work got hectic really fast because of how long I was gone for, and what happened kind of just… changed me, I guess."

"Hopefully it's not for the worse. I mean, you were lazy before you got struck, so I'd hate to see if that gets any worse." She joked.

Barry swallowed hard, shaking his head as he reached across the table and took her hands in his. He held eye contact with her with a kind of seriousness that he very seldom used, so it was understanding that Iris wasn't sure what was going on. For weeks now, Barry had been planning the perfect time to profess to her that he was tired of being just friends with her. He'd been planning exactly what he would say, how he would say it, when he would say it and even where he would say it. None of it had panned out the way he planned, though. He wanted it to be romantic and huge, but he had come to realize that that wasn't what mattered to him at that moment. What mattered was Iris. All he really wanted was to be honest with her, and even if there were still things that he had to keep from her in order to make sure that she was safe, this was something that didn't need to be lied about anymore. They'd been doing this dance for almost their entire lives at this point, and he was tired. He wanted to end it, even if it weren't going to go his way.

"That's not exactly what I'm talking about, Iris." His voice matched the look in his eyes, but Iris didn't shy away from it like anyone else would have.

"Then what are you talking about?" She inquired, already knowing on some level but wanting to hear it for herself.

He hesitated before answering, his words flowing freely from his mind without much filtering in between. "The first day we met was our first day of kindergarten." He shared, earning a nod from Iris. "You were wearing that light blue dress that you wore all the time until it didn't fit anymore."

Iris smiled fondly at the memory. "And you were wearing the red sweater that your grandmother made you, and you stopped wearing it once it frayed when we were in second grade."

He nodded with a small chuckle. "You were the only person who would listen to me when I was talking about dinosaurs and telling you about all of the different ones that I knew because you understood me for some reason. You understood that everything I was saying didn't make me weird but that it made me passionate. You understood those passions, and you have supported nearly every one that I had throughout the entirety of our friendship."

"In my defense, your 'passion' for bringing back parachute pants wasn't the best one in the world." They both laughed.

"And when things like that happened, you were always the one who put me back on track, and I did the same thing for you because you were and still are my best friend. But something in me changed one night when we were teenagers." She tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "It was prom night senior year. Do you remember?"

She nodded somewhat sadly. "Yeah, Tommy Nelson stood me up." She shared, her tone conveying the sadness that continued to linger at the thought of that night.

He nodded again. "You were so devastated at the fact that he had the stupidity to stand you up that we left after thirty minutes of being at the dance itself. I drove you to that fast food place down the street from the house because you loved their fries, and we sat in the parking lot while you cried because of how much you wanted Tommy to ask you to be his girlfriend either at prom or when he was supposed to drive you home afterwards. But that night was so much more than me being a good friend or a memory that you wanted to repress, Iris. Seeing you so sad killed me inside, and all I wanted to do was see you smile."

She laughed lightly at the memory that followed his words, resting her hand on her forehead as she covered her eyes. "So you put the straws up your nose to poorly imitate a walrus."

Barry laughed with her, his heart warming at the sight of her smiling. "That was the first time that you had smiled the entire night. That's one of my favorite moments that we've had, Iris. Sitting in that parking lot at 12:30 in the morning, sharing that container of fries and having you wear my coat has gotten me through every day of having to live as your best friend and only your best friend. But lately, not even that moment has been able to get me through this."

Iris swallowed hard as her heartbeat picked up inside her chest. "Barry, what are you trying to say?"

"That I don't want to live this way anymore." He replied with a shaky breath. "I love you, Iris, and I love being your friend, but there has always been something between us that's been leading us down this road. Something has always been pulling us closer and closer together, whether we chose to ignore it or not. We were never meant to be just friends, Iris, and I don't want to continue living that lie."

She smiled fondly at him. "Well, I'm glad to know that one of us finally had the balls to put it on the table." He chuckled at her statement, his eyes falling to the table as her hands squeezed his. "Thank you for being that courageous, Barry."

He looked back at her, his eyes glowing in happiness. "I know that it's hard for you to come to terms with non-platonic feelings, especially when it involves confronting other people about them."

"And your compassion and empathy are one of the many reasons why I love you, Barry Allen."

They both beamed at each other, happy that everything that they felt towards the other was finally out in the open. They ate their meal with a kind of newfound happiness that neither one of them had experienced before this moment. For the first time in either one of their lives, they weren't weighed down by anything. They weren't hiding how they felt for one another anymore. They finally had the chance to be together despite there still being things kept from each other. Barry knew that it wasn't going to be easy keeping the knowledge that he was The Flash from Iris, but he wasn't really thinking about that at the moment. He was so overcome with joy and complete contentedness that he wasn't able to see the complications that were in his near future.

Once they were finished eating, the couple ventured back out into the cold city. Barry's hand was wrapped tightly around Iris', his long fingers lightly tracing over her's as they quietly walked. A small smile crossed his lips as his thumb felt the cold metal of the lightning bolt ring. He pulled her hand up to examine the ring that he had given her earlier that night. Due to Iris' ignorance towards who was behind the mask, Barry felt the need to play the part of the ordinary forensic scientist who was merely a fan of the hero instead of the hero himself. "Nice ring." He stated with a smile, seeing one appear on Iris' face. "Where'd you get it?"

She chuckled lightly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

She paused, failing at suppressing a smile before she looked up at him. "The Flash."

Barry arched his eyebrows in feigned shock. "The Flash? You met The Flash?"

Iris nodded. "He confronted me because news has apparently spread that Luthor wants me to interview him when he's released from Belle Reve."

Barry chuckled shortly. "I guess good news travels fast." Iris nodded slightly, resting her head against Barry's arm before he continued. "Why would he give you a ring, though? If he heard about Lex Luthor seeking you out, why would he give you a ring?"

She shrugged slightly, holding up her hand as they both looked down at the ring. "He said it has some sort of tracker in it. If I push down on the bolt, then it'll send him my location if I'm ever in any kind of danger."

Barry smiled down at her. "I'm glad to know that I'm not the only person who has your best interests in mind. I'll feel a lot better knowing that The Scarlet Speedster's keeping a close eye on you."

"I'm a tough girl, Barry." She stated, playfully nudging him. "I don't need the help of a superhero."

"Everyone needs his help at one time or another, Iris. Just be glad that he's willing to take a break from cats in trees for you."

She laughed but nodded in agreement nonetheless.


End file.
